Siren's Calling
by Riyuski
Summary: Lemuria has Fallen. Taken over by a powerful man with unknown powers, and a women long since thought dead. Piers, forced to flee, seeks Felix and company hoping to reclaim his fallen homeland. More is at work than the heroes believe. And as one of there own begins to fall prey to the enemy, they must once again prepare for a life-threatening battle. May be pairings later on, idk.


Piers was running. Ignoring the pain of the deep wounds covering his torso, legs and face, his body screaming at him to stop and rest. But he couldn't stop. If he stopped it would be the end of him. They would find him, drag him back and make him go through that ordeal again before they killed him. Piers wouldn't let himself be caught, he had to run away for the first time in his life. He had to run, because it was the only way to stop that nightmare that had unfolded before him. At least that's what he told himself.

The nightmare that was impossible, but he had witnessed it with his own two eyes.

_'Th-this is impossible! How could she be here, she's dead! I saw her grave!' _Piers thought wildly as he made his escape.

Piers ran blindly until he realized he had unconsciously returned to the teleport pad. Pulling out the Teleport Lapris, he activated it. In his mind he willed the stone to transport him to the one place he knew he would be safe and could get the help he sought. Vale.

The sounds of fighting surrounded Sheba, a battle raged around her. It wasn't a normal battle, it was like she saw it through a haze, she couldn't make at any one person's face. '_I must be having a vision.'_ She realized as she looked around. The battle seemed to be taking place in a large orientate room, most of the fighting seemed to be condensed to the center of the room. Most of the people fights wore plates of armor and wielded large cleaved swords. Helmets covered all of their faces, obscuring them from view. The other group fighting was much smaller and they wielded a wide range of weapons from swords to small staffs. They all also had blue hair ranging in tone and length.

At one end of the room sat a large throne, were a man with steel colored hair lounged. His face seemed to be carved from stone, his square jaw and steely blue eyes making him seem all the more dangerous. Next to the chair stood a woman with pale blue hair that almost reached the ground. She was beautiful, her face making it impossible to tell her true age. Her blue hair looked like shimmering water running down her back, and pearls decorated her head, intertwining with her hair. The woman's silver dress was made of dark blue silk and was embroidered at the bottom and wrist with gold flowers Sheba had never seen before. Sheba gave a start when she looked at the eyes of the women. They were a rich golden color, so much like Piers' eyes. Another man with electric blue hair knelt before the throne, and Sheba felt she knew this person. He was faced away from her though and seemed to be pleading to the man and woman, though Sheba couldn't hear what he said. The blue haired man on the floor clutched at his head shacking it back and forth.

Slowly the vision faded to darkness, only to be replaced by another. In this one she saw a man running through a dark forest area, a dark blue cloak with gold embroidery stitched at the hem was obscuring his features. Though she could not see his face his build made it easy to tell he was a male. Rain pelted down like a waterfall soaking everything and making the forest floor seem more like a river. The man staggered along for a while before slumping against a large tree. As the vision began to fade Sheba saw a bright blue light come from him but the vision was fading fast and she never saw what the exactly what the light was.

Waking up after a vision dream was always somewhat disorientating for Sheba. She held her head as she sat up and let the dizziness she felt pass. Looking at the room she shared with Jenna. The other girl was fast asleep on her bed, facing the wall. Sheba had arrived at Vale a week ago with Ivan. They had decided to visit their friends after staying so long in Contigo.

After returning to Vale when the Golden Sun rose, their group had stayed to help rebuild the town. Three months later a carrier came to the village looking for Piers, it was a letter from Lemuria. King Hydros was summoning Piers back to Lemuria to help the once isolated island as it began to open-up more to the outside world. The night before Piers left however he talked with Sheba late into the night. He said that the letter had seemed strange to him, he had an uneasy feeling about returning home. Sheba did her best to reassure he friend, sure it was nothing to worry about. Soon after she and Ivan left to stay in Contigo with Ivan's sister. Mia had also left to return to Imil, though they all promised to visit Vale and their friends as much as possible.

Swinging her legs off the cot her bare feet touched the cool wood floors. Slipping out of the room quietly Sheba followed the hall to the stairs leading to the first floor. Tiptoeing downstairs Sheba almost missed the last step when she heard someone say her name. "Sheba?" She looked around for the source of the voice, though the first floor was almost completely dark. The only light came from the little moonlight that filtered through the curtains near the front door. Through the little light Sheba could make out a familiar form seated on the couch in the middle of the room. Felix sat at the far end of the low couch, looking at her curiously.

"Oh! Felix, I didn't think anyone else would be awake at this hour." Sheba walked over and sat down next to her friend. "What are you doing sitting in the dark?"

"I was just thinking, the dark is somewhat calming though isn't it? I had Echo to keep me company too." Felix said petting the small earth dijnn she had not noticed before.

"You haven't been sleeping well have you?"

"What makes you say that?" Felix questioned, a small smile pulling at his lips.

"Jenna talked to me about your restlessness recently. She is worried and wanted to know my opinion." She said as Felix looked away, breaking eye contact. "What is the matter Felix, maybe I can help."

Felix was quiet for a while, looking down at the small dijnn in his lap. Finally he sighs a little before looking back up at her.

"For a week or two I have been having a feeling that won't go away. I don't know what it is but I feel like something is going to happen soon. Something bad." Felix looked almost pained as he said this. His brow furrowing and a slight scowl pulled at the corners of his mouth. Sheba thought about what the older boy had said, that he felt something bad was going to happen. She thought of the strange vision she had had, and what meaning it had behind it.

"Felix, I-" Sheba never finished her sentence because at that moment a large explosion came from outside, causing the glass in the windows to shake so much she thought they would break.

Without any hesitation Felix jumped to his feet, Echo setting himself to his adept, and raced to the front door. Yanking the door open Felix darted outside, quickly followed by Sheba. The two only had on their night clothes and neither had on shoes. The rain from earlier had lessened considerable and it was barely drizzling now. In the dim moonlight the two scanned the village for the source of the explosion and noticed a plume of smoke rising from the village entrance.

"Sheba, go wake Jenna and change quickly. Make sure you bring your weapons and met me outside in five minutes. I'll send Echo and Granite to make sure the others are awake." Felix said hurried as they returned inside and left for their rooms to change. Five minutes later after dragging a very grumpy Jenna from bed and quickly changing to her normal clothes she and Jenna exited the house once more. Felix was already outside, his eyes watching the still growing plume of smoke, his Sol Blade griped tightly in his hand. Before they could speak Felix set off toward the smoke, the two girls following quickly.

As the group got closer to the main entrance of the village they could clearly hear the sounds of fighting, making them quicken their pace. When they finally came into view of the scene Sheba couldn't help but gasp at what she saw.

The wooden entrance and gates were in flames, collapsing in on themselves. Two grey monsters, they looked like small dragons with large spikes running along their backs, circled close by the burning entrance. It looked like they had someone cornered between them, trying desperately to hold them back with a sword. Both dragons converged on the person at once now, and Felix darted forward quickly, Sol Blade raised high. Slashing across the back of one Felix continued on and cut at the back legs of the other.

Roaring in pain the monsters turned away from their prey and onto Felix. They never got a chance to attack the Earth adept because at that moment they came under another attack.

"_Mother Gaia!_" A voice shouted through the smoke filled air, an orange-brown light of psyenergy appeared beneath the monsters. Jumping back to avoid being hit by the attack he prepared his own psyenergy. Already caught in the first attack the monsters were helpless as the others launched their own attacks.

"_Quake!"_

"_Eruption!"_

"_Whirlwind"_

As the attacks merged and strengthened the monsters roared in a mixture of pain and rage. As the attacks continued Felix saw Sheba and Jenna running towards him. They were accompanied by three other members of their group, Isaac, Garet and Ivan. "Felix, are you ok?" Jenna asked with slight worry for her elder brother. Nodding Felix was about to ask something when his attention was brought back to the two monsters. The others followed his gaze and were slightly shocked at what they saw. Though the beasts had taken the full force of their attacks for the most part they seemed more angry then actually hurt.

"What the heck, that barely did anything to them." Garet complained as he griped his mace tightly.

"They are tougher than I thought, we will have to get serious now." Isaac said as he drew his blade, Excalibur.

"Surround them, we can't let them go into the town further." Felix said as he circled around the monsters on one side. As they formed a circle around the beast Sheba saw the person from before kneeling off to one side.

Sheba froze as realization hit her, why this person seemed familiar. The person was wearing the same dark blue and gold embroidered cloak as the man from her vision. Turning she actually looked at the person now, she noticed it was in fact a man. His cloaked head jerked towards her as she watched and then was even more shocked by the voice she heard from the cloaked man.

"SHEBA, WATCH OUT!" it shouted in a voice all too familiar

Turning on pure instinct at the warning, she saw what her distraction had cost her. As the others had fought the monsters, one of the beasts had noticed her distraction. Breaking from its companion it now was aiming at her. Time slowed as it descended upon her, knowing she wasn't fast enough to escape it. Then a force pushed her aside, and she saw the blue cloak again, this time up close. The finely embroidered blue material looked thick and durable. Then time snapped back into focus and the monster was on the cloaked man.

"AhH!" the man yelled in pain as the beast's sharp claws cut across his face and chest, however he wasn't the only one in pain. The cloaked man's sword was buried deep into the chest of the monster, and it gave one last struggle before collapsing to the ground taking the man with it. Horrified Sheba scrambled to the fallen man, knowing what, and who, she would find. She had recognized his voice easily when he had shouted her name. As she drew close she saw the face the hood had hidden; the cerulean blue hair, and blue and gold head dress. She gasped when she saw the cuts across his face and chest from the monsters attack. His eyes were closed and he made no moved to try to get out from under the monsters weight.

'_Why is Piers here, and not in Lemuria?'_

Quickly she moved around to his head and gripped under his arms, pulling, trying to free her companion. She didn't have the strength to free him alone, luckily Felix and Jenna appeared beside her and help to pull their friend free.

"W-what happened to the other one?" Sheba asked as she saw the others approach.

"When it saw this one die it growled at us and just took off." Ivan explained, half leaning on his staff.

Sheba turned back to Piers as the others crowded around them, Jenna checking on their fallen friend. She noticed that aside from the wounds from the dragon, he had a varied of other wounds littering his body. Red psyenergy surrounded her as she cast Healing Aura on him, being the best healer among them at the moment. The wounds closed as the psyenergy faded, leaving only traces of blood.

"Piers, Piers? Can you hear me?" Jenna called out to the mercury adept. Gently patting his face to wake him; though it took a while for the Lemurian to respond. Groaning weakly his golden eyes opened slowly, remaining half lidded. His head was cradled in Sheba's lap, and he turned his head slightly to lock his blurry golden eyes to her bright purple ones.

"S-sheba?" Piers said, his voice almost a whisper. "..everyone, wha…!"

Suddenly Piers sat up, regretting it almost instantly as a wave of nausea and dizziness hit him, almost making him pass out again. " Ugh…the monsters, what…what happened to them?"

"Don't worry about it Piers, the other one took off. It's safe now." Felix said trying to reassure his friend.

"Piers, I did my best healing your wounds but I would feel better if we took you to the Sanctuary too." Jenna looked still worried for Piers, as they helped him to his feet. The Lemurian tried walking unaided at first, his pride preventing him from asking for help, but Felix seeing how unsteady his friend was, pulled the mariners arm over his own shoulders. With Felix supporting Piers the group left for the Sanctuary. They left the dead monster to be dealt with later, and the fire had pretty much burned itself out at that point. Now they were all just concerned for their friend and they all had one question on the mind. '_Why was Piers back in Vale instead of Lemuria?_

Piers opened his eyes wearily, than wished he hadn't. He would recognize this place anywhere, he was back in the Lemuria Palace throne room. It was quiet now, unlike the last time he had been in this room. Slowly he surveyed his surroundings, finding most of the room completely empty. Then he turned around to face the large ornate throne that sat at the other side of the room.

Piers knew what he would see, knew that he wouldn't like it, but he couldn't stop himself from looking. There he was, the man who had turned Lemuria up-side-down, his silver hair and cold ice blue eyes. Sitting on the throne he had no right to, a sickening grin spread across his face as Piers felt arms snake around his waist. Glancing back in surprise he felt frozen as his eyes lay on who was behind him. Beautiful pale blue hair framed a youthful face and cascaded nearly to the floor. Richly golden eyes held his own similarly colored eyes. His mother

"My poor little Piers, I know how you hate to see others in pain. Don't worry though because it will all be over soon, all of the pain and hurt. For Lemuria, for Weyard, and…. for you!"

Pain blossomed in his chest and as he looked down he was shocked to see a dagger protruding from his body. His own mothers slim hands holding the hilt. On instinct he pushed her away, staggering and falling to his knees. Desperately he tried to stem the flow of blood, but already he could feel himself slipping away again. The floor suddenly began rising up to meet him, but before he passed out completely he heard a gleeful laughter fill the air. It was his mother's laugh, the one he loved so much, the one he had missed since her passing. Now he heard it again, laughing at him as he bled out.

Panic was the first thing Piers felt as he bolted upright from where he was laid. Still feeling the pain he quickly grabbed at his chest, expecting to feel the dagger and blood. Instead all he felt was the soft fabric of the louse cream colored shirt he wore. Trying to slow his breathing and racing heart before he hyperventilated, he slowly looked around the room he was sitting in. The bed he was in sat against one wall and a large window took up most of the space along another. Mid-morning light filtered into the room through the drawn curtains. A small table chair and bookcase were in the opposite corner next to the closed door. Carefully he threw back the covers on top of him and swung his legs off the bed. Unsteady at first Piers used the wall for support, making his way to the door. Just as he was reaching for the door handle it opened from the other side, right into his face.

'_WACK!'_

Piers, now on the floor, used one hand to massage his stinging face and the other to prop himself up. His head was still spinning when he heard whoever had opened the door enter the room.

"What was th-? Oh my god, Piers! Are you ok?" Jenna asked the fallen water adept as she knelt next to him. "It's fine, I'll be ok in a minute." Piers reassured her. Getting to his feet, Jenna rose too giving him a worried look.

"I was just coming to check on you, we didn't think you would be up for a while longer."

"How long have I been out?"

"Only for half a day, are you sure you're alright to be walking around already?"

Jenna was eyeing him wearily, but he just waved her off and exited the room. As he was descending a flight of stairs, he finally recognized where he was. Piers had been brought back to Felix and Jenna's house; the room he had woken up in had to have been Felix's. Carefully making his way downstairs Piers entered the living room, and was greeted by comforting scene. Felix, Garet and Isaac all sat together on the couch, seemingly in the middle of an argument. Isaac playfully jabbed his elbow into his friend's side when he didn't get his way, which caused the older brunette to bump into Garet. Both men ended up on the floor, much to the amusement of Sheba and Ivan who were seated across from the couch.

All heads turned when they heard barely contained laughter from the stairs, only to find their lemurian companion, one hand covering his mouth to hide his amusement. After enduring an extremely stressful ordeal and then being wounded by the dragon; being around his close friends again made Piers feel as though not all was bad in the world. They were part of his family now, and he would do anything for them.

"Pfft, hahahaha." Piers laughed , letting the tension that weighed heavy on his shoulders lift for a moment. The others joined in on his laughter for a moment as well as Felix and Garet picked themselves up.

Felix turned to his blue haired friend, a spark of worry in his hazel eyes. "Piers, How do you feel? Should you be moving around already?"

"I'm Fine, there is no need to worry over me."

Sheba stepping up to Piers, peered up at his face. "Hmm, your face is a little red though. Are you sure you're alright?"

"Ah, oh that…"

"That would be my fault." Jenna admitted sheepishly as she descended the stairs. "I may have opened the door on Piers' face."

"You hit Piers with a door!?" Isaac shouted.

"It's my fault really, I should have been paying more attention. Besides I wasn't really hurt." Piers tried to ease their worry.

"Well if you say so, but Piers," Sheba said as she locked eyes with the mercury adept, "Why are you here, I thought you had returned to Lemuria. Has something happened?"

The change in their friend could be seen instantaneously. His shoulders stiffen, hands clenched into fist and his knuckles turning white. He refused to meet any of their gazes and they could tell he was clenching his jaw. His electric blue bang hung in his face, almost creating a barrier between them.

"Piers…" Felix said softly, placing a gentle hand on his friends shoulder.

When Piers finally looked up his golden eyes were hard, his voice strained.

"I…I failed them, I couldn't save them." The bitterness was clear in his voice. "I ran…I ran away to save myself!" Piers felt almost sick with self-loathing. How could he have abandoned his home to that monster? The others were shocked by Piers' outburst; normally he was the most level-headed of them all.

Seeing his friends distress Felix gripped both of Piers' shoulders now, catching his eye and giving him an encouraging look. "Piers, I know you. I know how much you have done to help and protect your friends, family and home. No matter what has happened I know that you did all in your power to prevent it. What has happened in Lemuria?"

It was a few tense moments before Piers answered, his voice cold in the silence.

"Lemuria has fallen." As soon as he said those words the others voices rose around him.

"What!"

"What do you mean fallen."

"Was there an attack?"

"Attacked by whom?"

"BE QUIET!" Felix shouted over the others; his hands still gripping Piers shoulders for comfort. He turned back to his friend, "Piers…"

The lemurian looked at his closest friend before taking a deep breath and continuing his story.

"When I first returned to Lemuria I had barely gotten off my ship before I was taken. They put me in one of the cells below the palace, it was a few days before I was able to figure out what happened. My uncle, and other men and soldiers were also in the cells with me. They told me how a month before is when everything started. A man appeared in Lemuria, a powerful army at his side. My people have not had to fight in a long time and they were overwhelmed. This man, their leader forced King Hydros to stand before the palace and all the citizens and…made an_ example _out of him." Piers stopped at this, and Felix could feel him shaking slightly. Before Felix could say anything however, Piers continued.

"This man called himself 'Houren'. He locked up anyone that resisted, while his men terrorized everyone else. Houren knew of my expedition from Lemuria and my help with the rising of Golden Sun. I am unsure of why he wanted me brought back, or what he truly wants, but I know he will not stop at Lemuria."

"You say that Houren will not stop at Lemuria, than we have to act before he can." Felix said as he released Piers.

Piers seemed to hesitate, before speaking up again. "That is not all…"

Everyone looked back at the tense mercury adept as he continued.

"The day that I escaped, myself and a few others managed to break free of our cells. We stole weapons from the guards and made our way to the throne room, were we knew Houren would be. I thought we could finish this nightmare but when we made it to the throne room I was shocked by what we found there." Piers was visibly shaking now.

"Houren sat on the Lemurian Throne, and guards lined the walls. They surrounded us before we knew what happened. I was in shock and didn't even think about fighting back anymore. All because of the person I saw standing at Houren's side, someone I hadn't seen in a long time."

Quietly Jenna came to Piers other side, gently touching his arm. "Who – who did you see Piers?"

"…my mother." His voice wavered with pain and despair.

"Y-your mother? But Piers I thought…"Piers cut Jenna off almost harshly.

"I KNOW, I know. She's dead! I sat at her grave, my uncle watched her dead. How? How could she be there, and by his side as our home fell. But it had to have been her, her face, her eyes, her voice they were all the same."

"The others were overpowered but somehow I managed to flee the throne room and palace. I made it back to my ship before they found me again. I retrieved the Teleport Lapris from where I had hidden it on board and used it to escape the island. When I finally arrived in Vale those dragons were about to attack the village." Piers finally ended his story, realizing he could not bring himself to look his friends in the eye. He felt a mix of self-hatred, pain and grief form in the pit of his stomach as his mind raced.

Then Sheba stepped forward again and grabbed one of his hands.

"Piers, you just woke up and after everything that has happened I'm sure you could use a good meal. I'm sure we all could."

And with that she pulled the older adept into the kitchen before he could protest. She quickly had him sit at the kitchen table before moving to the stove to start heating water for tea. As Sheba began to pull food from the fridge, the rest of their group entered, giving their own input on what should be made.

With Felix to help cook they soon had a meal ready for their rather large group. An because there were so many of them they had to pull extra chairs and squeeze around the table to fit. None of them seemed to mind though, it felt like old times. Slowly Piers became less withdraw and even participated in some of their usual banter. Sheba watched her friends, discreetly watching Piers most of all. She was happy that at least for a moment, her friend could forget the hardships he had endured and those yet to come.


End file.
